Croatian weapons found in Syria: Report

Croatian weapons have started to emerge in the hands of foreign-sponsored militants fighting against the Syrian government in the country's southwestern Daraa province, a report says.
According to a report published by Syrian newspaper Al Watan on Monday, the Croatian weapons include rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles in addition to medium, light and sophisticated arms which have recently entered the country through borders with Jordan.
The report further accused the US spying services of providing the militants with information about the movements of the Syrian army.
“The terrorists have started to fan out in a number of small towns in a bid to isolate Daraa from the rest of Syria and to control borders with Jordan,” the report said.
On February 26, The New York Times reported that Saudi Arabia had recently purchased large cargos of infantry and heavy weapons from Croatia and, through Jordan, funneled them to militants fighting against the Syrian government.
Officials told that the Times that “multiple planeloads of weapons have left Croatia since December, when many Yugoslav weapons -- , previously unseen in the Syrian crisis, began to appear in videos posted by militants on the YouTube.”
Early in March, the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List also claimed that 3,000 tons of weapons, paid for by Saudi Arabia as requested by the US, have been airlifted from Zagreb airport in 75 planeloads to the militants through Jordan since November.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government has said that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and that a very large number of the militants operating in the country are foreign nationals.
Several international human rights organizations have accused foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes.
MKA/HN